The One who is Blessed: Psalm 1,Day 1. Jan 1st | Dreaming Beneath the Spires
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
Wow! This is a pretty intense and meaty 6 sentences. I like it because I have always wanted God’s blessing, and here is a description of what that looks like.
The one who is blessed is one who does not do what the wicked do. You may land up more righteous than most, even goody-goody, but your reward will be the blessing of the Lord, which, after all, is what you really want.
or sit in the company of mockers,
He has nothing to do with mocking, or such nastiness. There is something diabolical about mocking because it undermines your opponent’s dignity.
Because when you mock you do not say what you really mean, which is a trait of the speech of God.
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
The one who is blessed delights in God’s word, and meditates on it continually.
As our hearts and actions are shaped by the objects of our thoughts and meditation, so too our destiny is shaped by the objects of our thought and meditation.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
The person rooted in God’s word will be as rooted and reliable and unshakeable as one planted by ever-fresh streams of water.
And God’s word will be for him these streams of living water
which yields its fruit in season
And the season of ripeness for individuals does not follow natural laws. In the right season according to God’s timetable, the one rooted in God’s word will bear fruit.
and whose leaf does not wither—
Because it draws nourishment from God’s streams of living water, God’s law, and God’s word.
The fruit befits the roots,
whatever they do prospers.
And this is another mark of the one rooted in God’s word, who does what he hears from God. Whatever he does, prospers.
I think of Samuel’s words to Saul 1 Sam 10:6 The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. 7 Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
which the wind blows away
Impermanence and transitoriness, fickleness and shadows of changing, marks the ways of the wicked, in contrast to the rooted stability of the righteous.
The wicked are impermanent and transitory
Sooner or later, in this life or the next
The wind will blow them away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
God watches over those who seek to do the right thing.
But the way of the wicked is a moral downward spiral,
Whether visible to the eye or not.
It will end as all downward spirals too.
